Do you have a particular interest regarding what medical specialty or type of facility in which you would like to work? Write down your interests and communicate them to your externship coordinator in advance of your externship

Question

Also communicate your interests to your school's career services staff.

Answer 1

If externships are not prearranged, and there is flexibility regarding which area facilities are recruited for externship sites, then students should be encouraged to participate in establishing a site. Some students have ideas before externship concerning the medical specialty or type of facility they are interested in training within for the externship. One benefit to the student in allowing a few choices of sites is that he or she can work in the type of practice or facility of interest and see what it is really like. Some students, given this opportunity, find themselves at home in the specialty or facility they choose and can strive for employment in a similar setting. Others find that their area of interest is not for them. For example, a student really wanted to work as a medical assisting extern in a cardiology practice. She did this, loved it, was hired, and is still working with this practice three years later. Another example: A health information technology student sought an externship within a large group practice that had in-house billing/coding and records management. After two weeks in this setting, she was turned off to the idea of working in that type of facility. After externship, she applied to a medical billing company, was hired, and loves it. She learned from the externship experience not to apply for medical office openings as long as she was able to get interviews and be hired by a medical billing company.